Kulshan Community Land Trust opens affordable housing survey for Blaine residents

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Kulshan Community Land Trust has opened a survey for Blaine residents to provide comments on future affordable housing projects. The 10-minute survey will be open through November.

The questionnaire asks the survey taker’s housing situation, housing issues and barriers to becoming a homeowner. Participants can enter information anonymously or provide contact information for a follow-up. The survey is available in Spanish and people who need translation assistance for another language or survey accommodation can contact Kulshan at 360/671-5600 or info@kulshanclt.org.

“The survey helps us know the level of interest from people who live and work in Blaine,” Kulshan executive director Dean Fearing said. “It helps us grow our waitlist.”

Kulshan is working to bring achievable homeownership to Blaine for working-class families earning around $40,000 to $100,000 per year. The Bellingham-based group owns the land under the home, which preserves the home’s affordability for future buyers. The homeowners pay property taxes and take care of the home like any other homeowner.

The group also helps families with down payment assistance. Through a shared agreement, Kulshan sets an annual 1.5 percent equity increase so that homeowners can grow equity while paying off their mortgage principal. The organization has helped over 200 Whatcom County families own a home, according to a Kulshan press release on the survey.

Kulshan and other affordable housing advocates have been advocating to city staff and city council for projects at the old city hall property on H Street and in a section of Grandis Pond, an upcoming east Blaine neighborhood of 1,000 homes. If approved, Fearing said the old city hall property has the potential to start the soonest, in the next two to three years, while the Grandis Pond property still needs infrastructure that could be years out.

The two projects could bring 70 or more homes, 20 to 30 of which could be condominiums or co-op housing units at the old city hall property, Fearing said. The survey will gauge Blaine residents’ and workers’ interest in co-op housing, which is a new model for Kulshan. Unlike condominiums where an individual owns the unit, co-ops allow the building residents to buy the building and individuals purchase shares of the building that appreciate over time. Fearing said this model is especially helpful to people with poor credit who don’t qualify for a bank loan, but qualify for purchasing shares in co-op housing.

A Blaine home owned through Kulshan could cost from $174,000 to $400,000, Fearing said. 

“Blaine needs enough affordable homes to attract and retain skilled workers, to support growing families, and to make sure we have enough homes for seniors and other people with a fixed income,” according to the press release.

Visit bit.ly/3UdWIsE to take the survey in English and visit bit.ly/3NoGRoJ to take the survey in Spanish. For more information about Kulshan, visit kulshanclt.org.

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